Written and directed by Zeph E. Daniel (credited as Woody Keith), Angel’s Tide is a bold and unflinching portrait of a woman staring down the end of her life with chaos, charm, and confrontation. Rather than offer comfort or closure, the film leans into the messiness of mortality, exploring what happens when a dying woman refuses to die quietly.
Diane Collier (Patricia Bursiel) is a dying woman who refuses to live like one. Resolute in her denial, she spends her days stealing small items from convenience stores, bingeing on chocolate, and engaging in one-night stands with strangers she meets in bars and parking lots. Despite the anxiety of her pending death, Diane exists with a strange calm, determined to feel alive without admitting what’s killing her.
Her return home brings her back to her father (Larry Linville), with whom she was always seen as a disappointment, especially after following his footsteps as a painter. Their conversations swing between cold and disapproving. Diane’s presence is a constant reminder of his personal and professional failures in life. But Diane is compelled to constantly try to win over his approval…something that will always be out of her reach.
Amid her unraveling, Diane forms a gentle connection with Frank (Larry Gelman), the lonely owner of a clock repair shop. Their friendship grows slowly, built on quiet moments and shared solitude. Frank offers no judgment, just a place to live and some normalcy. Unlike her other relationships, this one isn’t complicated by guilt or history, and through him, Diane finds a kind of fragile companionship and a friendship that she finds difficult to accept.
Diane (Patricia Bursiel) finds brief calm while painting, despite the turmoil within
“She spends her days stealing small items…bingeing on chocolate, and engaging in one-night stands.”
Having recently been introduced to Daniel, I’m becoming increasingly drawn to his storytelling style. If you head over to Lifetime and watch a movie about a woman who has only months to live, that story and Angel’s Tide would be vastly different. Both versions would be a touching story of a woman reconnecting with her estranged family and finding a support system of new friends. But Daniel goes the extra edgy step, turning his protagonist into a h***y, shoplifting chocoholic—not for sensationalistic reasons, but to pose a deeper question: what would you do if you had only a short amount of time left on this earth? F**k it all…I say. Then reality catches up with Diane’s choices.
Restored to a glorious 4K, the film has the look and feel of low-budget 90s cinema. The acting can be a bit overdramatic, but as Diane, Patricia Bursiel gives a heartfelt and intense performance. If there were one reason to see Angel’s Tide, it is the performance of Larry Linville as Diane’s father. Any fan of M*A*S*H knows what a great comedic actor he is, but now we get to see his dramatic chops at play.
Zeph E. Daniel pulls no punches with Angel’s Tide, and that’s precisely how it should be. The filmmaker takes it to the edge with his heroine, forcing us to ask: what would you do if time were running out? This is raw indie filmmaking with teeth, and Daniel has the guts to tell stories in ways that others wouldn’t dare.
"…pulls no punches..."
